What’s up: Zilla Jones, Hut Hut, Duane Forrest, ice basketball, Snowshoes and Brews, Dilla Day

An evening with Zilla Jones

• The Forks Market events space, second floor
• Today, 7 p.m.
• Tickets $10.50-$21

This year’s Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC) annual author event features Winnipeg lawyer, author and anti-racist educator (and Free Press book reviewer) Zilla Jones.

Jones’ debut novel The World So Wide, published in April 2025 by Cormorant Books, follows Felicity, a Canadian opera singer who visits her mother’s birth country in 1983 after receiving an invitation to perform in Grenada. A reunion in the Caribbean country with a fellow student she met in London in the mid-1960s is disrupted by the coup in Grenada, which sees Felicity placed under house arrest. It’s a sweeping piece of historical fiction that’s an ideal read for Black History Month.

Jones will be joined in conversation at The Forks tonight’s by Delia Joseph of Improveology Lifestyle Coaching, who will also facilitate questions from those in the audience. After the reading, Jones will be signing copies of The World So Wide.

Doors open at 6 p.m., which takes place in the second-floor events space at The Forks Market, and seats are on a first-come, first-served basis before the event gets underway at 7. Complimentary coffee and tea will be on hand; outside food and drink can be brought in.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

— Ben Sigurdson

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Hut Hut album release

• Public Domain, 633 Portage Ave.
• Friday, 8:30 p.m.
• Tickets: $15 at reallovewpg.com

There’s no mistaking a Hut Hut song, and that’s thanks as much to their cheekily syncopated melodies as it is to the vocals of frontman Mat Klachefsky, whose high-pitched musical missives have captivated Winnipeg audiences since his days as the seafaring captain of Boats, a stalwart of the city’s 2010s scene.

With a sense of humour that’s anarchic and understated, gloomy and inspiring, destructive and restorative, Hut Hut — Klachefsky, Rory Ellis, Ryan McVeigh and Luke Bergen — handles the ongoing apocalypse with requisite charm and care.

“We’ve been playing music for a long time, and we probably shouldn’t be doing this anymore. but I don’t know how to stop,” Klachefsky says in the write-up for the band’s second album, Hut Hut, the followup to 2020’s Hut Hut Hut.

Saturated with contradictions, the group’s latest finds lyricist Klachefsky sharing dozens of world-weary observations, such as “Don’t try hard you will never get that far; you’ll never be who the hell you think you are,” and “I’ve been meaning to make some friends in case my friends die.”

“Hut Hut doesn’t have a vision or a coherent theme,” Klachefsky adds, reflecting on the album, which features guest appearances by Domo Lemoine of A La Mode and Talula Schlegel of Veneer. “It’s liberating to treat every song like the first song we ever wrote. I just hope someone can throw this on and get into it for a brief moment on a Wednesday afternoon. There are bands out there that scratch an itch. They get the job done. That’s the kind of band I think Hut Hut is.”

Opening the night are local kraut-rockers Ritchot Textiles, and, in its debut performance, Naked Elevator Ride.

— Ben Waldman

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Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World

• WAG-Qaumajug, 300 Memorial Blvd.
• Saturday, 7 p.m.
• Tickets: $25 at wag.ca

Toronto-based artist Duane Forrest brings his award-winning show Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World, to Winnipeg as part of the month-long Black History Month Manitoba programming.

Known for integrating live music, storytelling and cultural history into his performances, Forrest’s sell-out shows, including his 2017 debut Climb, have garnered glowing reviews at Toronto, Milan and Edinburgh fringe festivals.

Blending music with audience interaction, Forrest will take the audience on a journey through the history, cultural impact and songs of Bob Marley, sharing how exposure to reggae not only shaped his music but transformed his life.

All profits from ticket sales go to Black History Month Manitoba.

— AV Kitching

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Ice basketball with the Sea Bears

• The Forks, Nestaweya River Trail
• Sunday, 1-3 p.m.
• Free

Lace up your skates and hit the… court?

Winnipeg Sea Bears mascots Churchill and Nanuk will be at The Forks on Sunday for an outdoor hoops session on the icy Nestaweya River Trail. Visitors can drop by from 1 to 3 p.m. to try their hand at shooting baskets on skates.

The event is part of the ongoing Learn to Winter series happening every Sunday at The Forks.

Other activities taking place this weekend include a winter workout class led by instructor Matt Koldon at the CN Field from 1 to 2 p.m., drop-in skating lessons on the canopy rink from 1 to 4 p.m. (skate rentals available in The Forks Market) and outdoor musical entertainment by DJ Kap from 1 to 4 p.m.

All activities are free to join. Visit theforks.com for more information.

— Eva Wasney

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Snowshoes and Brews: A Métis Heartwarming Experience

• Kilter Brewing Co., 450 Rue Deschambault
• Sunday, 2:45-5:30 p.m.
• Tickets $68 at eventbrite.ca

Warm up with a snowshoe adventure down the scenic Seine River with Kilter Brewing Co.’s Snowshoes and Brews event.

Participants will learn about Métis teachings and traditions while participating in them, followed by a tour of Kilter Brewing with sips and snacks.

Admission includes snowshoe rental and guided river tour, the brewery tour, a flight of four five-ounce pours of your choice and snack (or a non-alcoholic option with snack) and a gift. No previous snowshoe experience is required. This event is 18+ and is outdoors, so remember to dress for the weather.

— Jen Zoratti

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Dilla Day

• Public Domain, 633 Portage Ave.
• Saturday, 10 p.m.
• Tickets $28 at Eventbrite

Laying down the jazzy, off-kilter grooves of J Dilla is what made Super Duty Tough Work known to many Winnipeggers.

About 10 years ago, the large hip-hop ensemble SDTW, led by Brendan Kinley, organized the first Dilla Days – a celebration of the late great American producer who revolutionized not just hip-hop production, but certain corners of jazz and R&B too.

Always an excellent party, it also foretold bigger things. Super Duty Tough Work would go on to nab a Polaris Prize nomination, one of its former members would join Mac DeMarco’s band, and SDTW’s drummer Kevin Waters would solidify his reputation among Manitoba musicians as one the best groove drummers around. (J Dilla is known for having innovated a peculiar kind of swing, sometimes called the “drunken drummer,” and it takes a special gift to execute it live the way Waters can.)

With Kinley now living in Ontario, we see less of SDTW on Winnipeg’s stages, but the band is back for the city’s first Dilla Days in many years. The event tends to sell out; expect to see Public Domain’s stage to be almost as packed as its floor, with featured guests including Kairo, Hera, Ness, the Aliens, Snackie, Dill the Giant and Ali Wan Kenobi.

— Conrad Sweatman